Robert Osborne, the Turner Classic Movies guy. I wish I had more to say about him, but I rarely have cable and thus rarely watch TCM.
Dr. Thomas Starzl, noted surgeon. Among other accomplishments, he did the first liver transplants and pioneered the use of anti-rejection drugs.
Judge Joseph A. Wapner, of the Los Angeles Coun6y Superior Court. NYT.
Of course, he’s better known to those of us in the older set as the first judge of “The People’s Court”.
For the record: Bill Paxton. A/V Club.
Professor Irwin Corey, “the world’s foremost authority”, has passed away. He was 102.
Since the A/V Club hit one of his most famous scenes, I’ll hit the other:
(I’d kind of like to see the Hurt/Egoyan “Krapp’s Last Tape”, but it looks like you can only get that in the “Beckett On Film” set, which is pricy but contains some other stuff I’d like to see as well.)
Barbara Hale, who knocked around movies and TV a bit before she settled into her most famous role. LAT. NYT.
That role, by the way, was “Della Street”, Perry Mason’s secretary during the Raymond Burr run from the beginning of the TV series in 1957 all the way through the last TV movie in 1993. (I make the distinction because: while I personally don’t remember this and it didn’t last very long, there was an attempt to revive Mason in the 1970s, with Monte Markham in the titular role. Ms. Hale was not involved with that. She was, however, involved with “The Perry Mason Mysteries” which were made after Burr’s death and didn’t involve Perry Mason at all.)
Noted: she was also the wife of Dean Martin’s character in “Airport”.
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Serdar Argic, call your office, please.
I remember liking that show. Doesn’t look like it has ever had a DVD release, and I can’t tell if it streaming anywhere. But the opening is on YouTube.
Remember when TV shows had openings? And theme music?
Your Mary Tyler Moore roundup: NYT. A/V Club. LAT. WP.
CBS is doing an hour-long tribute special tonight. And apparently, MTM Enterprises has been posting full episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” on YouTube (minus the opening credits).
If they don’t play “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” at her funeral, there just ain’t no justice in this world.
My mother asked me yesterday if there was anybody from the show other than Betty White who was still alive. The answer kind of surprised me:
Cloris Leachman (“Phyllis”) is still around, though she’s pushing 91. Ed Asner is also still alive (he’s 87). Gavin MacLeod’s still around. Valerie (‘Rhoda”) Harper seems to be doing more or less okay after that cancer scare a couple of years ago. And Georgia Engel (Ted Baxter’s girlfriend) is only 68 and still working.
Your Miguel Ferrer roundup: NYT. A/V Club.
Obligatory: he was one of the best things about “Crossing Jordan”, the “Quincy” of the 2000 era except that it sucked.
And yesterday was a bad day for baseball: Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura and former infielder Andy Marte were both killed in separate car crashes in the Dominican Republic. More from the NYT.
Also for the record: Ryan Grigson out as general manager of the Colts, though they are apparently keeping Chuck Pagano as coach.
And no, PeyPey is not being considered.
William Christopher, most famous as Father Mulcahy on “M*A*S*H” and “AfterMASH”.
(My mother observed that she saw him recently on a “Murder She Wrote” rerun, in which he was the bad guy. It looks like he knocked around a bit before “MASH”:
)
(And I was reading up a little on “AFterMASH” over the weekend. Yes, it was probably a bad idea in retrospect: even the executive producer thinks so, though I disagree with his assertion that it featured “the three weakest characters”: I don’t think he gives Harry Morgan enough credit.
But the thing that surprises me (I never watched an episode) is that it was actually a top 10 show in the first season. The thing that killed it wasn’t quality, or the lack thereof: it was that CBS, in their infinite wisdom, decided “AfterMASH” could go head-to-head against “The A-Team” for the second season. That…didn’t quite work.)
George S. Irving has died. He was 94.
Mr. Irving was a Tony award winner (for a revival of “Irene” in which he acted opposite Debbie Reynolds):
He was also a television spokesman for White Owl cigars, and narrated episodes of “Underdog”.
But he was perhaps best known as the voice of Heat Miser in “The Year Without a Santa Claus”. He was also in “A Miser Brothers’ Christmas” (which I’d never even heard of, but I was apparently in my 40s when that premiered).
Anyone remember “Thicke of the Night”? I do, but only as being synonymous with “legendary disaster”.
Andrew Sachs, perhaps most famous as Manuel the waiter in “Fawlty Towers”.
Milt Moss passed away on September 26th, though his death was just announced by his family this week. He was perhaps most famous as the “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” guy from the Alka-Seltzer ads of the early 1970s.
Fritz Weaver, noted character actor. He won a Tony for “Child’s Play” in 1974, and was in “Fali-Safe” and the “Holocaust” mini-series, among other credits. (Edited to add 11/29: A/V Club.)
Ron Glass. A/V Club.
Loved him in “Barney Miller”, loved him with Sherman Hemsley in the “I of Newton” episode of the revived “Twilight Zone”, don’t have a damn thing to say about “Firefly” thank you very much.
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